Kate pulled back from the sensation, her stomach writhing. “We should find out what it is.” She thought she knew but didn’t want it to be true.
She slid from the saddle. Corwin joined her a moment later, and they tethered the horses to a tree before moving forward, revolvers in hand. Like her, he’d taken to wearing the one Bonner had given him in Farhold all the time.
Sensing the creatures, Kate made her way toward them. Their presence grew stronger with each step, but when she broke through the brush into a wide clearing where she knew they ought to be, there was no sign of them. This is wrong. They’re here. But where? She closed her eyes, trying to orient her mind to their physical location—
Just ahead. She stepped forward slowly, wary of a trap. Corwin kept pace beside her.
Scanning the ground, her eyes fell on a small stone partially hidden beneath the tall grass. It was halfway buried in the dirt, but she could see the glow on it. A magestone. She pointed. “Look at that.”
Corwin bent toward it. “What in the three hells?”
“Don’t—” Kate started to say, but Corwin had already picked it up. The air in front of them shimmered, like a wardstone shield going up. Or down, Kate realized, her breath catching. In front of them, a massive hole had appeared where only wild grass had been a moment before.
A foul stench rose up from the pit, and with it came the sound of growls and snapping jaws. Drakes. But which kind? Kate peered over the side. Several sets of eyes set in snarling faces stared back at her. It took her a moment to see them clearly, their black scales camouflaged against the shadow of the pit. There were four daydrakes in all, and when they saw Kate, they lunged at her, half climbing out of the pit. She lurched backward with a gasp. But they weren’t able to get out. The hole was too deep for their flightless wings.
No, not a hole, she realized. A cage.
One warded with mage magic.
18
Corwin
CORWIN STARED DOWN INTO THE pit, his heart galloping inside his chest.
“What do we do?” Kate asked from beside him.
“We kill them before they can be used for further harm.” He pulled the revolver from his holster.
“Wait, Corwin.” Kate touched his arm. “Someone put those drakes in there, caged them, and tried to hide them.”
Brow furrowed, he stared back at her. “You think we might be able to catch whoever is behind this?” The Rising, here in Norgard. He didn’t want to believe it, his city in danger. The wilder responsible for his mother’s death had killed dozens of people—and he’d acted alone. Corwin didn’t want to imagine the damage wilders could do banded together.
“Not if we kill the drakes.” Kate peered around the clearing. “Whoever it is might hear the shots and be scared off.”
Glancing up at the sky, Corwin guessed it was drawing toward noon. He’d already spent too long out here, and if he wasn’t careful he would be late for yet another high council meeting. But there was no question that this discovery was more important.
He turned back to Kate. “All right, we stay here and see who comes to check on them.”
They retreated the way they’d come and crouched down behind the white trees, their slender trunks offering poor coverage. Neither spoke, and in their silence, the noise of the forest grew louder, each creak of a tree bough or snap of a twig ominous. The minutes marched by. Before long, Corwin’s stomach began to growl loud enough to hear, and his body ached from sitting still so long. He knew Kate must be feeling the same next to him.
“Do you want to check the horses?” he whispered to her.
Relief broke over her face, and she nodded once, then stood and retreated as silently as a wild animal. Corwin watched her go before turning back to the clearing. The drakes had settled some, but every few minutes he would hear the snap of teeth or a growl. Please, Noralah, let me catch those behind this and be done with it. He touched a finger to his bandaged palm, feeling the brand beneath it.
It seemed for once that the goddess was listening, for on the far side of the clearing, a figure soon appeared. The man was plainly dressed, with nothing remarkable about his appearance. Nothing like the Andreas miner with his blue tattoos and ragged clothing. He might have been a clerk or a farmer or something equally inconspicuous. A wilder rebel?
Slowly, carefully, Corwin eased the pistol out of the holster as he watched the man approach the pit with a puzzled expression on his face. He circled the hole slowly.
Corwin braced, ready to subdue the man once his back was turned, but before he could, he heard the snap of a twig from behind, Kate returning. It was a slight sound, but enough to draw the stranger’s attention. He spun toward Corwin with wide, startled eyes.
Corwin leaped up, pointing the revolver. “Don’t move!”
The man ignored the command, his hand already pulling something out of his pocket.
“Watch out, Corwin!” Kate shouted, rushing forward as if she meant to shield him from the attack.
The man threw the object at them, unleashing a blinding white light. A ferocious bang echoed across the clearing, so loud Corwin felt his brains rattle inside his skull. It was a flash stone, like the kind Raith had used to escape the daydrakes.
Stunned and disoriented, Corwin fell to his knees, unable to stay upright. It was as if the solid ground had started to churn like the waves of the ocean.
“Kate!” he screamed, but he couldn’t hear the sound of his own voice. Groping blindly, he reached out, soon feeling her body next to his.
As the white light faded, Corwin’s senses slowly came back to him. He could see again, although a dreadful ringing remained in his ears. He turned to Kate and cupped her face, running his thumbs over her cheeks.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded and rolled away from him, lurching to her feet. She stumbled toward the path by which the man had first arrived.
Corwin grabbed her arm. “There’s no point. He’s long gone by now.” He guessed he was shouting but couldn’t help it. “We need help.”
Kate turned back. Scowling, she placed her hands over her ears. “I can barely hear a thing.”
“Me too.” Corwin bent down and retrieved his revolver from where he’d dropped it. “We need to hurry, but first—”
He broke off and headed for the pit, where the drakes were writhing about, in a frenzy over the commotion above them. Gritting his teeth, Corwin aimed the revolver into the pit. There was no sport in this sort of killing, but the foul creatures couldn’t be allowed to live. One by one, he planted a bullet in their skulls, his aim deadly accurate at such a close distance. Once again, he thanked the gods for Bonner’s revolver, more certain than ever that it was the key to vanquishing all the drakes that plagued Rime.
When it was done, Corwin hurried down the path after Kate toward the horses. Both Nightbringer and Firedancer pulled at their tethers, ready to be away from this place. Corwin and Kate climbed into the saddle, then raced out of the woods and down the road to Norgard’s eastern gate.
They didn’t slow down until they made it back to the castle. “Stay with the horses,” Corwin said, doing a flying dismount in the courtyard. “I’ll be back with help.”
He turned and raced into the stables, shouting for Master Cade.
“He’s still in the high council meeting, your highness,” one of the stable hands said.
Corwin swung toward the man. “Have a squadron of cavalry horses saddled and send someone to muster their riders. I want everyone ready to leave at once.”
With the order given, Corwin left the stables and raced all the way to the council chamber in the central wing. The guards standing outside the door stepped aside as he barged in. Seated at the large, round table, all the high councilmembers looked up at once with matching alarmed expressions.